The veterans returning home to Providence after fighting for the United States are supposed to enjoy the benefit of world-class health care for the remainder of their lives. Sadly, recent news has begun to raise questions about the quality of care that America’s veterans are receiving. What’s been troubling for so many who have been following this issue is that the reported cases of substandard care aren’t limited to a single facility or even a group of facilities in a single area, but rather are from countless VA facilities across the country.
VA hospital sued for separate surgical errors by same doctor
It takes a good deal of courage for Providence residents to be willing to challenge the status quo. This is especially true when it comes to healthcare. Many may believe that any care given is better than none, and that healthcare providers should always be given the benefit of the doubt. The problem inherent with that line of thinking is that when patients receive poor healthcare, it almost always has drastic and sometimes even fatal consequences. Thus, it’s often left up to those patients who were the recipients of such poor care to hold those providers responsible for giving it.
Surgeon's mistake results in permanent nerve damage to patient
Patients in Providence want to be able to trust that the care that they receive from their doctors and surgeons is the absolute best. They also most likely hope that should complications arise, not only will their providers be able to deal with them, but also that they will be forthcoming about the work done during their procedures. If one continues to have pain following a procedures, or worse yet, end up in a worsened condition, he or she may be well served to seek a second opinion from another doctor who can provide an objective analysis of the other's work.
Multiple lawsuits lead to criminal charges for doctor
The number of people struggling with an addiction to prescription drugs has grown steadily over the last couple of decades. When people in Providence develop such an addiction, one then might question what role their doctors played in contributing to such a problem. While doctors are bound to treat their patients in the best way that they believe possible, they are also relied upon to spot those instances where they may be fueling their patients’ addictions. A failure to do so could result in harm to a patient from a drug’s dangerous side effects, and leave the doctor facing serious penalties.
Wife alleges misdiagnosis resulted in her husband's death
Even though most medical professionals in Providence don't care to admit it, the fact is that diagnosing patients often involves guesswork. Signs and symptoms can only tell so much, after all. Yet advances in medical science that have greatly improved diagnostic testing should at least give providers a clear picture of what's going on inside of their patients. It's then up to them to take the results of those diagnostic tests and use their own expertise to come up with the correct diagnosis.